Wakulla Book Review: "Get on Board and Stay on Board" by Pearl Nsiah-Kumi

This book is an inspirational/devotional designed to educate, encourage, and empower the reader. Through the use of poetry, life-lessons, and corresponding Scripture, the book covers a wide array of topics, essential to living life in a way that’s pleasing to God.

I especially enjoyed the opening of this book. The author attempts to clarify who God is, and distinguish Him from other deities, and does so in a manner that’s not judgmental or adversarial. I also enjoyed the author’s presence of mind to not write only to those who believe in God, but to those who may not believe, or to those who may be searching for a better way.

Her love for God, Christ, and the desire for her fellow men and women to come to know, and love them as well, is clear and that love radiates from, and flows through this book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone searching for a clearer understanding and connection to God, as well as those looking to turn to God for the first time.   

Wakulla Book Review by Matthew

You can purchase "Get on Board and Stay on Board" from Amazon here.

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I want to personally thank all the men who are reviewing the books written by JOHN 3:16 AUTHORS. I am thankful that we are able to bless them and appreciate the encouragement given to us by their reviews. 

Each WEEK (usually on Tuesday), we are posting reviews from 

Wakulla Correctional inmates of John 3:16 books. 

Inmates are loving the new books from John 3:16 authors. 

Chaplain Steve Fox is adding the new books to the prison library in this initiative to "change lives to ensure a safer Florida."

Audiobook Narrator Rebecca Roberts Shares With Authors What It's Like to Narrate Books and How The Audiobook Process Works

THIS IS PART TWO IN A TWO-PART BLOG POST

TO READ PART ONE, CLICK HERE

(REBECCA ROBERTS, IN HER OWN WORDS) I’ve been a professional audiobook narrator (yes, that’s what we call ourselves) for about three years. However, I also refer to myself as a voice actress because my areas of work include audiobooks, poems, children’s characters, and commercial work. I consider myself an actress. Of all of my voice-acting experiences, I must say the audiobook is, by far, my favorite genre.

Within the world of audiobook narration, the variety of materials available for audition is amazing. Authors tell me all the time, “no one will audition for my book!” Well, that’s not because your work isn’t interesting or worthy. It’s because there is SO much writing going on out there just waiting to be recorded. The dawn of the independent author has created a deluge of work for narrators.

However, it is not easy work and many narrators don’t stick around for more than a few books. It doesn’t get you rich. It doesn’t get you noticed, and it doesn’t exactly lend itself to an incredibly active social life (it can be lonely in the studio). 

So, why do I do it? Why do I spend 5-6 hours a day alone in a small room barely making enough to put food on the table? There are many reasons. First, I am a passionate person and never do anything without complete commitment. And that is easier when what you are doing is something that you are already in love with.

I have been an avid reader since I was a tot—a goofy, skinny, red-headed, freckle-faced girl with a terribly odd sense of humor and a pretty distressing family life who found escape in her books. I don’t read to achieve a goal. I read like I’m breathing. It’s just part of what I do—like breathing. So, this makes it a bit easier to love being a narrator despite the lack of glory. 

Also, it’s wonderful to have a job where I can immerse myself for several weeks at a time in everything from reading about ancient religions, diet tips, children’s fantasy stories, romance, or espionage. Plus, I get to actually take part in creating material in some way.

My job provides a stage for constant learning. With each book I read, my own personal views of the world and the people in it are given the opportunity to assimilate AND accommodate new perspectives, ideas, and concepts. I don’t always agree with my authors’ opinions or aesthetics, but I do practice a sense of gratitude that I am privileged enough to have exposure to so many individuals’ ideas and great loves.

I try with each book to look for nuggets of wisdom, warning signs, revelations, and/or confirmations. And yes, I also greatly enjoy the laughs and glorious characters.

My favorite genre, if I absolutely had to pick one, would be First Person Contemporary Fiction. I find it easier to immerse myself into the text when the words are describing real emotions and subjective experiences rather than physical actions and observations. I hope that makes sense.

I know narrators who feel just the opposite. Their strengths lie in the ability to paint a scene or portray action in the physical realm much better than I do. My strength is in dialogue, emotion, and creating characters—two different types of storytellers, and also, two different types of people, I have discovered.

My favorite book so far involved the story of a jaded, young woman who moved back to her hometown to face the demons of her past and get answers to some very destructive family secrets. It was set in North Carolina, and the characters ranged from New York City attorneys, Hillbilly police officers, teenage boys, depressed elderly women, and on and on. By far my favorite character was the narrator. She was what one would call in the author’s circles an “unreliable narrator.” I LOVE doing these. They are complicated and delicious as you get to hint to the audience and show the development of the narrator’s own understanding of the story. I really enjoy complex characters. Again, a lot of narrators prefer the omnipotent narrator with a clear consistent voice. Call me crazy!  

I have recently discovered the joy of Young Adult and Children’s books. They are a welcomed diversion from my sometimes darker or complicated work. Growing up, my family was… well … unique. I know every little kid has a “voice” for their puppy or kitty cat. That, in and of itself, is not unusual.

However, our family had ongoing relationships with not only our pets but pretty much every animal we ever came across. They ALL talked to us (we for them). I remember being at the petting zoo as a teenager helping out at a birthday party and my mom and I, without hesitation, began conversing with the goats.. and yes… they would talk back in funny goat voices. I was 17 years old and probably scared the poop out of those kids and their parents. What was scarier was that my mother was speaking “goat” too!    

So, it’s not much surprise that this type of work has very quickly become a favorite of mine. Frankly I didn’t even try it out until very recently as it does take a kind of confidence in your performance to just let go and make crazy noises that could get you laughed at. But ever since I began, I find a kind of bittersweet joy while doing it. I am brought back to some very happy occasions that were blessed distractions from some very ugly times. 

I’ve got a GREAT CHICKEN… you should hear it! (and Rebecca makes characters like a grumpy donkey, a youthful bunny, a wicked crow, and other animals sound even more awesome; Seventh Dimension– The Door, a Young Adult Fantasy, Book One.)

Lorilyn mentioned that some of you have questions about how to get a book narrated. I’ll give you guys some basics, but to be honest, there are actually quite a few more options and opportunities to get your books produced than is most commonly thought. I have relationships with a few major audiobook publishers that offer distribution channels that are all a little bit different. So, these specifics I can provide to anyone who asks after I have a quick look at your book. Then I will be able to advise you on your best options. Believe me, you do have them. 

But, here are the basics. 

MONEY:

Authors can elect to offer a Royalty Share program to their narrators. It is usually half of total royalties earned. However, with some publishers, this number can be divvied up any way that is agreed upon.

Authors can also elect to simply pay a Per Finished Hour fee that includes the narration, the editing, the mastering, and any submission requirements. I am experienced in delivering final finished audio to several different companies, and they all have different audio requirements.

Many narrators will record and then send the work out to be edited/mastered. These authors unfortunately will often charge a bit more than I do as they have to pay the subcontractor. It does allow them to take on more work at once, though, which is a benefit to them. I prefer and always will prefer to do my own. My reasons?

First of all, it’s financial. I do this full time, and right now it is our family’s sole income due to an injury that my husband has suffered. So, every penny stays here in my family’s coffers.

Second, I’m a control freak. I have my own tricks, methods, and preferences that can’t be written down in a series of steps to hand to an assistant. I feel like this is as much my artistic process as it is for the author. I don’t feel that editing can be farmed out as it takes a delicate and perceptive touch. The only exception to this would be in-studio work with a live director and producer who handle everything from top to bottom. 

When narrators work on an hourly basis, it is PER FINISHED HOUR of audio, not per actual hours worked. It takes AT LEAST two hours (and sometimes up to four hours if there are a lot of voices, accents, or other challenges) of studio time to record one hour of finished audio. 

Plus any good narrator first does the prep—reading the entire book, making

notes on characters and voices, researching any accents, characters, concepts, or whatever else is needed. This takes an additional 1-2 hours of work per finished hour of audio.

So, the payment per-finished-hour requires anywhere from 3-6 hours of actual work. PFH fees vary widely in the industry. The top dogs can earn as much as $500 PFH (which actually works out to about 100 per actual hours worked.)  It goes down from there based on experience, demand for that particular narrator, whether or not their husband is out of work (LOL), and the author’s desire for that particular voice/personality/skill set.

It’s not like a grocery store where everything has a price tag on it. My peers would hate to hear me say this, but I charge quite a bit less at this point in my life. It’s not because I don’t think I’m worth it; it’s because I LOVE the work and want to read what I WANT to read, and sometimes, those aren’t the big retail titles. They are from the little guys. So, in short. If you think you want your book narrated, reach out to me. Nine times out of ten, I’m able to accommodate any author with good material for me to work with. 

THE BOOK:

There are quite a few websites out there that will count words for you and tell you how long your book will be, but an average 200-page book in paperback will be about 50,000 words and have a running time of about six hours. This would be the number used to determine the fee for narrating. It is your FINISHED HOURS. 

THE PROCESS:

Some narrators will deliver the entire book recorded and then the author will listen to it, offering up any edit requests that are errors or omissions on the part of the narrator. Narrators like to do things this way as it restricts the editorial/feedback process to verbatim issues and misspoken words. Many of us have had horrible experiences with authors requesting a multitude of revisions based on stylistic opinions or a change of heart about phrasing, etc. Most of us try to accommodate these to keep in goodwill with the author.

However, it can easily become beyond the scope of the contracted arrangement. Most authors do not realize that every single edit takes a significant amount of time in order to ensure continuity of sound, tone, mood, etc. It is not an easy feat, and I think authors don’t realize this. So, it is important to have a clear understanding of that before edits are requested. Is the edit necessary to protect the artistic integrity of the scene/writing style? It is necessary to prevent confusion for the reader? Is it necessary because it is an actual mispronunciation or error? The answer to all of these should be YES. If it does not satisfy these criteria, the narrator will not be incredibly happy to make them.

However, I like to do it a little differently. I will upload each chapter as it’s completed, giving the author the opportunity to meet each character as I begin to voice them and to hear the tone for each chapter (often each chapter requires a different tone). The author can then request certain stylistic changes BEFORE I continue on with said character. I don’t mind this at all. I love collaborating with the author. My only request is that you keep up with me, or I will just continue reading!  I do work very quickly. 

HOW DO YOU HIRE ME or someone like me? 

I work with ACX 

Brilliance Audio, and Blackstone Audio,

among others. My work can be seen at www.RebeccaRobertsVoice.com, and you can see my reviews on my over 60 titles by searching for Rebecca Roberts on Audible.com. 

If you would like to hear a sample of your book, I will happily record a bit for you. I know authors LOVE to hear their words come alive for the first time, and it’s such a joy for me to hear their excitement. I can’t tell you how much I love that. So, please do not hesitate to ask. Even if you aren’t ready to move forward, and maybe you’re just curious, send me an email and I can give you a quick sample of the work and a proposal. I fully expect an open dialogue with my authors. I may even recommend a different narrator who might be a better fit for your book. 

My biggest piece of advice for getting your book produced (and it applies to most things that are goal-oriented) is to not overthink anything. The companies that I prefer to work with allow you to keep all of your rights and will allow for multiple “editions” or releases. The overwhelming feeling that you pick THE PERFECT narrator, have THE PERFECT cover, and THE PERFECT-ly obvious signs from above that you should move forward can go BYE-BYE!   

Keep it simple. If you want to have a book recorded, take the first step. Let me do a sample for you and at least point you in the right direction.

Email me at RebeccaRobertsVoice@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter @Rebeccas_Voice

Follow me on Facebook http://bit.ly/RebeccaRobertsVoiceFacebook

Follow my blog http://rebeccarobertsvoiceblog.com/

How do I Turn My eBook and/or Print Book into an Audiobook?

PART ONE OF TWO PARTS

"Seventh Dimension - The King" is now available as an audiobook

“How do I Turn My eBook and/or Print Book into an Audiobook” is published in two parts. In part one, I share my experience as an author producing audiobooks. In part two, I share an interview of Rebecca Roberts (no relation to me). She has recorded two of my audiobooks— Am I Okay, God? and Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young Adult Fantasy, Book One (see below for the links).

Audiobooks are more lucrative than eBooks so it’s surprising to me more authors don’t make their books available in audiobooks. Hopefully, what I share will encourage authors to do so, make the process easier, and even fun. I have found it quite exciting to see my books available as audiobooks.

I have three of my books in audiobooks, two fiction books and one nonfiction book, all produced by professional narrators. However, the first book I made into an audiobook, I narrated myself. After a scathing review, I realized that the quality of my audiobook wasn’t up to the highest standard, so I set about hiring a producer to redo it. While I know listeners love to listen to audiobooks in the author’s voice, which is what prompted me to do it myself in the first place, unless you have the proper equipment (which I didn’t have), I recommend authors hire a professional narrator.

For those who wonder if you can recoup the costs if you hire a narrator, in the two years that Seventh Dimension – The Door was available before Rebecca Roberts redid it, I sold over a hundred audiobooks and received almost five hundred dollars in bounty earnings. If your audiobook is the first book uploaded by a consumer, ACX gives you a bounty fee of $50 for that sale.

If you can’t afford to hire a professional narrator, many producers are willing to split the royalties 50-50 so you have no upfront costs.

How do you get started? Go to acx.com/.  At the ACX link are two important links. One is for “how it works” and the other is for “search.”

On the “search” link is a sub-link labeled “producers for hire.” You can click on that and you will find over 38,000 professionals who will narrate your book. To narrow the field, there are filters you can use. For example; there are filters for genre, sex, language, accent, and vocal style, as well as many other filters. On the same page, there are also samples to which you can listen. It’s actually fun to listen to them and get a feel for how your book would sound in different kinds of voices. My sixteen-year-old daughter found Rebecca Roberts for me.

The next question you’ll have to decide is how you want to pay the producer. As I said, some producers will split the royalties 50-50, but I opted to go ahead and pay my narrator. If you do split the royalties, you are bound under the contract with ACX and that narrator for seven years. Just something to consider—make sure you are happy with the narrator you choose.

Before you hire someone and sign the contract through ACX, your producer will give you a short sample of what you uploaded for the audition. This allows you to get a feel for how your book sounds in that narrator’s voice. You can listen to as many auditions as you like.

If you pay your narrator, oftentimes, the cost is negotiable. The going rate for a well-seasoned narrator with lots of experience is about $200-250 per hour. For example, a seven-hour book (about 75,000 words) would cost about $1500. However, many are willing to do it for less.

Having produced my first book, I know how much work is involved. It’s not easy to narrate a book. The whole process is time-consuming and tedious. I listened to every word of every chapter and made sure the quality was superior. Misspoken words, words left out, and any other mistakes need to be corrected to give your listener the best audiobook experience possible.

It is also important to make sure the words that the producer says matches the Kindle version for a second reason. If the two versions are the same, ACX will sync them, which is called Whispersync. This allows your reader to switch back and forth between reading and listening to the book if he or she desires. It’s another great sales feature you can promote when marketing. If the two versions are not almost identical, ACX will not add that feature to the book.

I also found with one of my books, Seventh Dimension – the King, Book Two, that the narrator wasn’t familiar with Biblical words. The sample he did for me did not have any Biblical words in it, so I didn’t know that until we got further into the recordings. So I would recommend for the sample that you use a section of your book that contains denser or more difficult material to get a true rendering of the ability of the prospective narrator.

With future books, for example, I will probably want to listen to a sample that contains words that will come up that are not necessarily common words. The other option, which I didn’t consider until after we were almost done, is I should have given my narrator those words in audible format, or a link to hear them pronounced. For example, the Hebrew word Baruch, you can hear several examples of how to pronounce it at http://forvo.com/search/Baruch/he/ If I had done either of these things, it would have made the process faster and less tedious for both of us.

Once you are into the project, it’s important to strive for a good working relationship with the narrator. Even though my narrator for Seventh Dimension – The King didn’t know how to pronounce many of the non-English words, he was willing to correct those misspoken words—for which I was thankful. Now I know to search out those unusual words, whether they are names of characters or locations, and give them to the narrator ahead of time.

Another thing I also did, because both of my producers were willing to work for less than the $200-$250 rate, I made sure I listened to what they uploaded to ACX almost immediately. The producers don’t get paid until the job is finished, so if you delay listening to their narrations, you slow down the process, put them in the lurch, and make them have to wait unnecessarily to get paid. Be respectful of their time.

When communicating with the producer, I found it was better to communicate via my personal email versus the ACX email. The ACX email has a limit on how big the email can be, and when you are listing corrections, it can be aggravating if you get to the cut-off point and aren’t finished giving instructions to the narrator.

That being said, I found ACX to be extremely helpful. They are available via phone call as well as email. They were prompt in responding to any questions I had, and on their website they provide plenty of general information to get you started. You can also easily see how many books you’ve sold and bounties you’ve received. Like Amazon, ACX pays once a month via direct deposit into a bank account.

Two other things to consider: First, for your audiobook cover, you need a square book cover no smaller than 2400 by 2400 pixels. In other words, your audiobook cover uses different settings than your print cover or eBook cover. I would recommend you automatically have your book cover designer include an audiobook cover when he designs your print and eBook cover even if you don’t plan on producing an audiobook until later.

Second, if you do not live in the United States, e.g., you live in Australia, check with ACX before getting started. I have a friend who lives in Australia who narrated two books and tried to upload them on ACX, only to discover he couldn’t use ACX for his audiobooks. I can’t remember what the issue was, but I think it had something to do with royalty payments outside the United States. Just be sure you can use ACX for your audiobooks before you hire someone or invest hours narrating your book.

If you are interested in listening to the samples of my audiobooks (or purchasing them), the links are below on Audible. As far as I know, both producers are available if you are interested in hiring them through ACX. I linked their names to make it easier to contact them. I highly recommend both.

Am I Okay, God, narrated by Rebecca Roberts

Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young Adult Fantasy, Book 1, narrated by Rebecca Roberts

Seventh Dimension – The King, a Young Adult Fantasy, Book 2, narrated by Brad McDowell

Part 2 is an interview of Rebecca Roberts. I think you will find her comments insightful as she shares what it’s like to be an audiobook producer. See the next blog post on this website for the continuation OR CLICK HERE.